A place where I document our way of living! Being a stay at home mom/photographer, we have lots of time to try out crafts and projects all day! We unschool our children and we love it!!! Having a web designer as a husband has given me the opportunity to document our fun on the internet! Check out our "against the grain" family as we pave our own path through life!
Against The Grain
Homemade Clay Crafts Homemade clay is my new favorite thing to use cookie cutters for! When the kids want to cut out cookie shapes it is always sticky and messy and the shapes never come out right after baking them. (I am NOT a baker!) Then they want to use frosting and sprinkles but they never want to eat them. Then we have cookies sitting around for 2 weeks before we throw away all of those terribly decorated masterpieces! // This homemade clay is the perfect replacement for Read More
Homemade Gift For Mom As my moms birthday approached this year I had the same problem I always have...You can't buy her anything because she has everything she could ever want! You can't buy her soaps and lotions because she makes her own all natural everything. She doesn't wear jewelry, doesn't carry a purse, she rarely paints her nails...she is way to easy going for a quick, standard female gift. So, I decided to make her something that she could use! Everyone loves a homemade gift! I Read More
Homemade Air Freshener // Toxic Dangers of Air Fresheners and Scented Candles Why you should be using a homemade air freshener: Synthetic fragrances may be the most common type of chemical in your house. Air Fresheners, plug-in type deodorizers and scented candles can emit hundreds of harmful chemicals known to be carcinogens, respiratory and endocrine disrupters, and reproductive toxicants, even at low levels. In 2014, Scientific American reported that a study in the journal, Read More
Homemade Carpet Deodorizer One problem with deodorizing powder is that their fragrance may irritate members of the household with allergies or chronic respiratory conditions. Get rid of that problem with a homemade carpet deodorizer! // Homemade Carpet Deodorizer: Ingredients: 1 1/2 - 2 cups Baking Soda or Borax 20-30 drops of purification 5-10 drops Other Essential Oils for desired Scent Jar with holes in lid Directions: Mix the ingredients in the jar, cover the Read More
Doc McStuffins Party Ideas // My step daughter loves Doc McStuffins! So I threw her an awesome Doc McStuffins Party. I had so much fun doing this party because I have boys. This is the first party I have ever thrown that consisted of pink and purple. So cute! I had to share these Doc McStuffins party ideas with you! Doc McStuffins Party Ideas: 1. Pin the band-aid on the booboo AKA pin the band-aid on Lamby! I got a white poster board from the dollar store and drew lamby on it. Simple! Read More
Chemical Free Dishwasher Detergent Many of the ingredients in dish washing detergents aren’t named due to copyright protection! The ones that are disclosed are vague terms like stabilizer, buffer, colors, fragrance and water thickening agent. What do those things even mean?! We don’t even know what is going onto the dishes we are eating off of! Take charge of your families health by going chemical free! This homemade, chemical free dish detergent and Jet Dry recipes is a crucial step in Read More
Chemical Free Oven Cleaner When is the last time you cleaned your oven? I am not an oven cleaner for one reason...the smell! I cannot stand the smell that comes from the cleaner or from he oven when it is in clean mode. It gives me serious anxiety. In the first 7 years I lived in my current home I cleaned the oven a total of 2 times! I have to leave the house because of that smell...that probably isn't the best idea either....Then I learned that my fears were totally justified! Oven cleaners Read More
Chemical Free Toilet Bowl Cleaner Toxic Dangers of Toilet Bowl Cleaners: The most acutely dangerous cleaning products are corrosive, acidic toilet bowl cleaners, according to Philip Dickey of the Washington Toxics Coalition. Corrosive chemicals can cause severe burns on eyes, skin and, if ingested, on the throat and esophagus. Ingredients with high acute toxicity like bleach and ammonia, produce fumes that are highly irritating to eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and should not be used by Read More
Black and Yellow Batman Party Ideas My son has had 7 Batman parties! This year I decided to do all black and yellow, simple style decorations to make a cleaner, Batman Party look. So, what did I make for our Batman party? 1. Batman Cups: I bought plain yellow solo cups and drew the Batman symbol on the cups with permanent marker. Al though we ended up not needing cups at our Batman party, they looked great! medianet_width='728'; medianet_height= '90'; medianet_crid='528629222'; Read More
Homemade Bathroom Cleaner Lets talk about comet and how you can make a homemade bathroom cleaner that puts comet into the hall of shame! Comet has 146 chemical ingredients!!!! 146!!!! That's insane right!? Some, probably most, of the chemical ingredients in Comet are thought to cause cancer, asthma and reproductive disorders. Gross! Homemade Bathroom Cleaner - Homemade Comet // Homemade comet is super easy to make and super cheap! A capful of Thieves Concentrate and a shake of Read More